THURMOND, James Strom, a Senator from South Carolina; born in Edgefield, S.C., December 5,
1902; attended the public schools; graduated, Clemson College 1923; taught in
South Carolina high schools 1923-1929; Edgefield County superintendent of
education 1929-1933; studied law and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in
1930; city and county attorney 1930-1938; member, State senate 1933-1938;
circuit judge 1938-1946; served in the United States Army 1942-1946, in Europe
and in the Pacific, and participated in the Normandy invasion; was awarded the
Purple Heart; major general, United States Army Reserve; Governor of South
Carolina 1947-1951; unsuccessful States Rights candidate for President of the
United States in 1948; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for
United States Senator in 1950; practiced law in Aiken, S.C., 1951-1955;
appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to complete the term of
Charles E. Daniel, who resigned, and served from December 24, 1954, to January
3, 1955; had been previously elected as a write-in candidate in November 1954
for the term commencing January 3, 1955, and ending January 3, 1961, but due to
a promise made to the voters in the 1954 election, he resigned as of April 4,
1956; again elected as a Democrat on November 6, 1956 to fill the vacancy
caused by his own resignation and took the oath of office on November 7, 1956;
reelected in 1960, 1966, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990 and 1996 and served from
November 7, 1956, to January 3, 2003; was not a candidate for reelection in
2002; changed from the Democratic to the Republican Party on September 16,
1964; President pro tempore of the Senate (January 5, 1981-January 5, 1987,
January 4, 1995 to January 3, 2001, January 20 to June 6, 2001); President pro
tempore emeritus (June 6, 2001-January 3, 2003); chair, Committee on the
Judiciary (Ninety-seventh through Ninety-ninth Congresses); Committee on Armed
Services (One Hundred Fourth Congresses); turned 100 years old on December 5,
2002, while still in office, the oldest person ever to serve in the U.S.
Senate; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 12, 1993; died in
Edgefield, South Carolina on June 26, 2003; interment in Willowbrook Cemetery
in Edgefield.